Reactive Hypoglycemia

Churchguy6 said:

Hello,

My name is Steve, I was diagnosed with Reactive Hypoglycemia (not diabetes) about 5 years ago. But apparently I have had it most of my life from what many endocrinologist, internalist say. It is a wierd diagnosis. Because among eating right, exercising it has a mind of it's own. This is not something you can beat it's something you try to regulate. There are lifestyle changes that do help. But there is not yet a medicine/cure for this yet. Of course, there are other medicines out there that do seem to help a bit. They say its an underlying gene.

What seems to happen is my sugar goes up, and sometimes on its own, and the higher it goes the faster it drops. In theory if you can get it from going high it won't drop as fast, but still drops in my case. Tried metformin, diet, exercise. Very difficult to control. So if I go up to the 200's, it will drop to the 60's within an hour. Fun stuff. Nice to meet everyone.

Click to expand...

Hi buddy and welcome to the forums.

We have an entire sub-forum for RH so have a good look around.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/reactive-hypoglycemia.70/

Churchguy6 said:

Hello,

My name is Steve, I was diagnosed with Reactive Hypoglycemia (not diabetes) about 5 years ago (Not new, but still new to me). But apparently I have had it most of my life from what many endocrinologist, internalist say. It is a wierd diagnosis. Because among eating right, exercising it has a mind of it's own. This is not something you can beat it's something you try to regulate. There are lifestyle changes that do help. But there is not yet a medicine/cure for this yet. Of course, there are other medicines out there that do seem to help a bit. They say its an underlying gene.

What seems to happen is my sugar goes up, and sometimes on its own, and the higher it goes the faster it drops. In theory if you can get it from going high it won't drop as fast, but still drops in my case. Tried metformin, diet, exercise. Very difficult to control. So if I go up to the 200's, it will drop to the 60's within an hour. Fun stuff. Nice to meet everyone.

Click to expand...

Wait, you see 200's?! (11,1 in mmol/l). That's actually a tad higher than your blood sugars should go, as a non-diabetic. Should technically not go over 153... Though there is a little leeway. I had RH before I became diabetic, just never heard of it until well past the T2 diagnosis. That answered a lot of questions, lemme tell you! If you're seeing a 200 though, your diet must still be high in carbs? I'm guessing? Have you had a HbA1c done recently? Or an OGTT?

Couple of things:
You're right, there's no real cure, unless you count diet. If you go low carb, there's no spike in glucose. No spike in glucose, no overcompensation by the pancreas. So the more you keep blood sugars under control (doable with a LCHF or ketogenic diet, or a variation on those themes), the less you'll see spikes and dips. What you eat plays a pretty big role, but what your liver's doing does as well. With strenuous exercise your liver'll start dumping glucose too, which you might get a reaction to.

What are you usually eating? (Please don't say weetabix, please don't say weetabix, please....). Maybe we can help tweak your diet some. And this might help. it's geared toward t2's, but the diet should sort RH too. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html

Anyway, welcome to the madhouse, hope you enjoy your stay.
Jo

Hi, @JoKalsbeek before diagnosis and even through my experimental stage to find which foods cause the worst reaction, I have had readings in the high teens, and when I was misdiagnosed with T2, my levels were high 20s.
It is because, when not controlled, and the very weak initial insulin response along with insulin resistance, glucose rises very quickly.
This does not mean that we cannot be termed non diabetic. It is non diabetic because normal readings are found when waking or fasting!
I am certain there are other conditions that are non diabetic, were high numbers are seen.

Keep safe

Churchguy6 said:

Hello,

My name is Steve, I was diagnosed with Reactive Hypoglycemia (not diabetes) about 5 years ago. But apparently I have had it most of my life from what many endocrinologist, internalist say. It is a wierd diagnosis. Because among eating right, exercising it has a mind of it's own. This is not something you can beat it's something you try to regulate. There are lifestyle changes that do help. But there is not yet a medicine/cure for this yet. Of course, there are other medicines out there that do seem to help a bit. They say its an underlying gene.

What seems to happen is my sugar goes up, and sometimes on its own, and the higher it goes the faster it drops. In theory if you can get it from going high it won't drop as fast, but still drops in my case. Tried metformin, diet, exercise. Very difficult to control. So if I go up to the 200's, it will drop to the 60's within an hour. Fun stuff. Nice to meet everyone.

Click to expand...

Hi Steve,
I too have RH, we have our own forum on the website, click on forums and scroll down, or use the link in @urbanracer has posted.
Can you tell us what tests you have had? What dietary advice you have had?
Have you found out which foods you are intolerant to?
Can you give us a typical day of what you eat?

Keep safe, ask away about anything!

Lamont D said:

Hi, @JoKalsbeek before diagnosis and even through my experimental stage to find which foods cause the worst reaction, I have had readings in the high teens, and when I was misdiagnosed with T2, my levels were high 20s.
It is because, when not controlled, and the very weak initial insulin response along with insulin resistance, glucose rises very quickly.
This does not mean that we cannot be termed non diabetic. It is non diabetic because normal readings are found when waking or fasting!
I am certain there are other conditions that are non diabetic, were high numbers are seen.

Keep safe

Click to expand...

And I am an idiot, should've realised that... It's been that kind of day. (Haven't been on the ball since the doc yesterday. HbA1c is fine, thyroid isn't. I'll be fine, but my head's all over the place. No excuse, just an explanation).

Thanks for the kind correction, I really do appreciate it. As will the OP, probably.
X
Jo